Kanoka Amanai
|Amanai Kanoka}} is a member of the Niiyama Girls' Volleyball Team and Tanaka’s childhood friend. Appearance Kanoka is a fairly tall, athletically built young woman with short dark hair reaching to her jaw. She has large eyes with long lashes, and is noted by Tanaka to have grown attractive. In her youth she was taller than most of her peers, and wore her hair longer. Personality Kanoka appears to be a friendly person, talking to Tanaka candidly and shows a lot of respect to her upperclassmen, and also showing concern towards Nishinoya after Hinata bumped into him, causing him to trip over and fall into her arms. She shows a shyer side around her crush, often blushing and stuttering. Background Since primary school, Kanoka's been tall for her age and was picked on by some guys in her school. Tanaka would chase away the bullies and encourage her to keep her chin up. At some point, he took her to his junior sports team and introduced her to volleyball, which she has been playing since. Also at times when she would feel insecure or feel like giving up in volleyball, Tanaka always told her to "keep trying!" and she admired him greatly for this attitude and eventually the admiration seemed to turn to a genuine crush on him. Plot Spring High Preliminary Arc In the manga, Kanoka's first appearance is during the spring high (this scene was cut out from the anime). Her team walks onto the gym and Tanaka tries to call to her from the balcony . Her teammates quickly glare at him and he backs away fearfully as Hinata and Kageyama watch on. Tokyo Nationals Arc The first day of nationals, Niiyama Girls' is waiting in the stadium with other schools. Kanoka is standing with her teammates when Nishinoya’s accidentally pushed into her by Hinata . She catches him as he's falling and asks if he's okay. As he responds, Tanaka notices her and approaches her excitedly. They catch up for a bit until she's called away by a teammate. Niiyama Joshi wins its first match and later heads back to its hotel . Kanoka sneaks away to greet Tanaka and congratulate him. She blushes heavily as she tells him to do his best and hurries away. She catches up with her teammate, who teases her about Tanaka. Kanoka reveals her past with Tanaka, but gets too flustered to explain her feelings. That night, Kanoka's sitting outside when she sees Tanaka. They talk a little before Tanaka suddenly announces that he already has a girl in his heart, but Kanoka's cousin appears at the same time. Assuming that the guy's Kanoka's boyfriend, Tanaka runs away, leaving Kanoka heartbroken. However, Kanoka quickly asserts that she didn't come to nationals to date guys and will win all of her matches. Statistics As a member of Miyagi Prefecture's champion girls' team, her skill levels must be very high. In addition, Tanaka has referred to her as Niiyama's up-and-coming ace. Relationships Ryūnosuke Tanaka They have known each other since grade four of primary school, having been neighbors before Tanaka moved away. Tanaka often chased away her bullies and encouraged her to keep her chin up and later introduced her to volleyball when he took her to his junior sports team; Kanoka credits him for helping her gain confidence. They were close friends and she still calls him "Ryū-chan", and he calls her by her first name. She was happy to see him again at nationals, and he's flustered by how beautiful she's become. Kanoka is shown to have a crush on Tanaka, getting flustered when she talks to him and when she talks about him to others; she became heartbroken when he announced that he already likes someone else, but resolved to keep her focus on volleyball instead. Trivia * Favorite Food: Tuna Rice Balls * Current Concern: My serve receive isn’t really improving, and I’m very conscious of how I’m bad at hitting straights, and my shyness can’t be cured, and also…(The rest is omitted.) * She made a cameo appearance on chapter 108 of the manga, though only her hair is being seen. Quotes *"I didn't come here to date boys. I'll...win'em all!" (To her cousin, Chapter 246) References }} Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Niiyama Girls' High Volleyball Club Category:Wing Spikers Category:2nd Year